Monday, June 30, 2014

"At the same time that people like you and me are thriving beyond the dreams of any plutocrats in history, the rest of the country—the 99.99 percent—is lagging far behind. The divide between the haves and have-nots is getting worse really, really fast. In 1980, the top 1 percent controlled about 8 percent of U.S. national income. The bottom 50 percent shared about 18 percent. Today the top 1 percent share about 20 percent; the bottom 50 percent, just 12 percent.

But the problem isn’t that we have inequality. Some inequality is intrinsic to any high-functioning capitalist economy. The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution.

And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last."

"In her dissent in the Hobby Lobby case today, Justice Ginsburg mentioned a 1968 precedent in which the owner of a chain of barbecue restaurants in South Carolina "refused to serve black patrons based on his religious beliefs opposing racial integration"."

"But even more reprehensible than social conservatives' whining about the war against the separation of church and state they started is their transparent hypocrisy on the issue of religious liberty itself."

"For Republicans, it is the love that dare not speak its name. Tax cuts don't pay for themselves by generating economic growth so explosive that government revenues exceed the levels they would have otherwise reached. Ever since the LafferCurve was first sketched on a napkin for the likes of Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan, federal tax cuts have instead produced only record income inequality and mushrooming national debt. Nevertheless, GOP orthodoxy is unchanged, even as Governor Sam Brownback's tax cuts for the rich and small businesses truly are what's the matter with Kansas."

"Fittingly, this story of agonizing slow-motion political death begins with Mitt Romney. Back during the 2012 Republican primaries, when Mitt was still trying to prove that he was sufficiently conservative, he proposed “self-deportation” as a policy for dealing with undocumented immigration. It was one of those quintessentially Romney-esque moments that dogged him throughout the campaign. When Mitt ended up losing the Latino vote by 44 points, Republicans realized that being the party of “self-deportation” was not a viable option."

"The highest court in the country ruled today that it is acceptable for closely held corporations to use their religious beliefs to take away benefits guaranteed to their employees by law – something the Supreme Court has never before sanctioned. Everyone has the right to his or her religious beliefs, but those beliefs cannot be imposed on others."

"Defenders of women's health and reproductive freedom are reacting with anger to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Monday which ruled that an employer with religious objection can opt out of providing contraception coverage to their employees under the Affordable Care Act."

"And the extreme right wing, many years ago, decided they would work to convince their followers that a birth control pill is actually an abortion pill. Hey, it served their purpose -- as we saw with today's SCOTUS ruling."

"The Nation's Katrina Vanden Heuvel on Sunday challenged neoconservativeWeekly StandardEditor Bill Kristol to join the Iraqi Army if he felt so strongly about the U.S. taking more military action in the country in response to recent violence."

"It was more than a year ago that the IRS didn’t just target conservative groups. They were examining both conservative and liberal groups. After the Citizens United decision, the IRS was flooded with applications for tax exempt status by conservative groups. The reason why these groups were flagged is because they were breaking the law by engaging in partisan political activities while claiming to be social welfare organizations.
The point of the Republican targeting of the IRS has always been to warn the agency to stay away from the conservative dark money groups. Republicans are trying to protect the power of right-wing billionaires to try secretly to buy elections.
There is no evidence to support what Issa is claiming, but there is plenty of evidence that Issa’s investigation is a politically motivated witch hunt. The real criminal here isn’t Lois Lerner. It’s Darrell Issa."

www.addictinginfo.org/2014/06/28/exfelon-candidate/
"Jordan Haskins wants Michigan voters to know that he has put his past behind him, and is ready to serve. The 24-year-old, running as a Republican for Michigan’s 95th district state House seat, is a felon, who has served time in two states. According to mlive.com, Haskins’ crimes include things such as breaking and entering, trespassing, and destruction of property. But, by Haskins’ own admission, his criminal past, which includes prison time in North Carolina and Michigan, is related to something known as "cranking"."

"This is why there should be a Great Wall between church and state that is impenetrable. This guy is a nut. He makes Rafael Cruz look sane. And he's now a Republican candidate for state office in Colorado."

Friday, June 27, 2014

"The trick is, Gov. Terry McAuliffe only has so long to examine the budget, and the Republicans are doing what is called "upping the ante." This involves illegal entry into the governor's office, and then acting allshocked and amazed that the governor noticed!"

"As we approach the 2014 election, America is still in the midst of a high-pitched and often highly partisan battle over voting rights. On one side are politicians passing laws and executive actions that would make it harder for many citizens to vote. This started after the 2010 midterm elections, when new state legislative majorities pushed a wave of laws cracking down on voting. On the other side are groups of voters and advocates pushing back — in the legislatures, at the ballot box, and especially in the courts."

"Operators of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams comprised of tax payer-funded police and sheriffs in Massachusetts claim they are immune to public records requests about deadly force, incident reports, and more because they are private "corporations"."

www.forwardprogressives.com/john-boehner-caught-blatantly-lying-job-creation-fact-checking-site/"Boehner said, “The nearly six-year delay in approving Keystone is costing Americans more than 100,000 jobs and nearly a million barrels of oil a day.” Now, I can’t really comment about the “million barrels of oil a day” claim, but I do know that the oil that would be carried by the pipeline isn’t coming through the United States to make us energy independent. It’s going to be taken and sold on the global market to the highest bidder. Besides, it’s not American oil. It’s Canadian. But as far as the claim of “100,000 jobs,” that’s complete nonsense. Boehner pulled this off a 2011 study that even TransCanada, the company building the pipeline, calls irrelevant."

"In general, corruption’s deleterious effect on public policy is a serious problem — and not just a purely political problem either. It is a destructive force that can make or break an entire local economy."

"Mark Mayfield of Ridgeland, an attorney and state and local tea party leader, was arrested last month along with Richard Sager, a Laurel elementary school P.E. teacher and high school soccer coach. Police said they also charged John Beachman Mary of Hattiesburg, but he was not taken into custody because of "extensive medical conditions." All face felony conspiracy charges. Sager also was charged with felony tampering with evidence, and Mary faces two conspiracy counts."

"And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last.If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to comefor us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when."

"The national media should call the politics, governors and legislatures of Indiana, what they are: archconservative. Indiana should be spoken of in the same way that Wisconsin, Arizona and Texas are. The state should be seen as deeply anti-immigrant, institutionally racist, anti-poor, corporatist, privateering, anti-choice and conservative. Indiana, in fact, has been at the forefront of the conservative agenda in the states, and it should be known as such to the rest of the nation."

Thursday, June 26, 2014

www.addictinginfo.org/2014/06/26/massachusetts-swat-corporation/
"You see, it’s expensive for every department to have its own SWAT team so several departments pool their resources and create what is called a “law enforcement council” or LEC. This is not an unreasonable idea. BUT! Some of these LECs are incorporated (presumably for tax purposes) and, according to them, that means they are a private entity that is not accountable to the public. I can’t imagine it would take much for these LECs to take the next logical step and become for-profit entities with private ownership."

When asked by Dave Catanese of US News & World Report how Hillary Clinton would fare in Arkansas if she pursued the presidency in 2016, 2nd Congressional District chairman Johnny Rhoda told U.S. News, "She'd probably get shot at the state line."

"Just let that sink in: a man who thinks that "Obamacare causes cancer," that the Bible commands people to own guns in order to "defend themselves against left wing crazies," and that the FCC is allowing demonic spirits to "molest and visually rape your children" is now a Republican candidate for office"

www.politicususa.com/2014/06/26/reality-difference-republican-tea-party-candidates.html"There may be “moderate” Republicans in Congress and state legislatures, but they are few and far between and for the most part are not what reasonable Americans would consider “moderate” at all. Republicans may appear moderate to garner electoral support during election years, but when it comes time to cast their votes, they are as extreme as the teabaggers and it is time to call the entire Republican Party what it really is; an anti-American and anti-government extremist sect."

"Rafael Cruz, the father of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and a regular campaign surrogate, delivered his usual stump speech at today’s Road to Majority summit, filled with David Barton-inspired pseudo-history and Christian Nationalism. Echoing Barton, Cruz preached Seven Mountains Dominionism, which as we have noted in the past seeks to give right-wing Christians authority “over the seven forces that shape and control our culture: (1) Business; (2) Government; (3) Media; (4) Arts and Entertainment; (5) Education; (6) Family; and (7) Religion.”While preaching against the separation of church and state and the supposed “onslaught against Christianity and against righteousness” in American culture, Cruz said the church should have “an influence upon every area of society.”

www.alternet.org/belief/why-do-right-wing-christians-think-religious-freedom-means-forcing-their-faith-you"While it seems like a leap even for the most delusional conservatives to believe that their religious freedom can only be protected by giving Christians broad power to force their faith on others, a new report from the People For the American Way shows how the narrative is constructed. The report shows that Christian conservative circles have become awash in legends of being persecuted for their faith, stories that invariably turn out to be nonsense but that “serve to bolster a larger story, that of a majority religious group in American society becoming a persecuted minority, driven underground in its own country.” This sense of persecution, in turn, gives them justification to push their actual agenda of religious repression under the guise that they’re just protecting themselves."

"Just let that sink in: a man who thinks that "Obamacare causes cancer," that the Bible commands people to own guns in order to "defend themselves against left wing crazies," and that the FCC is allowing demonic spirits to "molest and visually rape your children" is now a Republican candidate for office"

"We agree that the whole GOP rebranding thing is deader than a doornail, right? And because it's dead, Republican lawmakers are scurrying like cockroaches to hate on all people who are present in this country because their parents brought them here."

www.forwardprogressives.com/conservatives-conspiracies-republican-party-whos-always-crying-wolf/
"Ever since President Obama was first elected it’s been a near endless stream of right-wing conspiracies and nonsense. It’s reached such a point that conservatives, and the Republican party, have essentially become the “boy” who cried wolf. They’ve lied, blatantly misinformed and perpetuated so many ridiculous ideas that it’s impossible for any non-conservative Americans to take anything they say seriously."

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/25/3453053/koch-bjorn-lomborg-lousy-t-shirt/
"So Bjorn Lomborg is funded by foundations that are part of the Kochtopus empire of influence. And Lomborg is a big-time pundit who argues for inaction on climate change, who pens pieces like “The Poor Need Cheap Fossil Fuels,” and who asserts “global warming has mostly been a net benefit so far” and will be for decades.
Coincidence? You be the judge — preferably not a Kochtopus-educated one."

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

"In what is being heralded as a landmark ruling for civil rights, the United States Supreme Court decided Wednesday that police can not search the mobile phones of people under arrest without a warrant."

www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/iraq-war-wmds-saddam-political-unreason"The role of Fox News. In a pioneering study that laid the groundwork for much future work, the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland used a series of post-Iraq War polls (conducted from June through September in 2003) to analyze the the preponderance of false beliefs about the war. The study first defined three clear falsehoods: (1) real evidence linking Iraq and Al Qaeda had been uncovered; (2) WMD had been discovered in Iraq following the US invasion; and (3) global public opinion was in favor of the US invasion. Then, it examined the likelihood of holding such incorrect beliefs based upon a person's political party affiliation and habits of news consumption.Fox viewers led the way in embracing these false assertions, with 80 percent of them believing at least one of the three. For consumers of both NPR and PBS, in contrast, only 23 percent believed one or more of these pro-war myths."

www.addictinginfo.org/2014/06/25/bachmann-silly/"It’s actually hard to contain your laughter when Bachmann says “the American people are absolutely outraged.” Take note, Congresswoman: an extremist fraction of the Republican Party is not “the American People.” And being outraged over something they clearly don’t understand doesn’t constitute a real “outrage."."

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

"On December 14, 2008, President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed thestatus of forces agreement(SOFA) under which American military forces would leave Iraq by the end of 2011. But at their press conference announcing the SOFA, an Iraqi journalisthurled his shoesat Bush's head, shouting "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog"!"

"Despite the fact that a Democratic president is running the executive branch, the Social Security Administration appears to be accepting the harsh budget cuts imposed upon it by Congress with an air of surprising passivity. This is puzzling. Social Security is an enormously successful and popular program. Historically only conservative Republicans have urged cuts to its administrative budget. Those cuts are already frustrating the public and undermining public confidence in the program."

"analysis based on 800 peer-reviewed reports, the Worldwide Integrated Assessment of the Impact of Systemic Pesticides on Biodiversity and Ecosystems (WIA), puts a spotlight on neonicotinoids, or "neonics," whose use they say poses a threat to global biodiversity."

www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/06/senate-disclose-act-dark-money-mitch-mcconnell"The bad news: The new DISCLOSE Act is likely going nowhere. Senate Republicans, rallied by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have blocked earlier iterations of the DISCLOSE Act since 2010. McConnell, currently a foe of campaign finance limits, will no doubt fight the new legislation. It is almost guaranteed the bill will not secure the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster."

www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/24/1309270/-Mississippi-dependent-on-federal-largess-murders-their-cash-cow-today"Mississippi is one of those welfare states—states that receive more in federal money than it sends back to Washington in tax receipts. In fact, Mississippi ranks first in receiving federal largess.The money comes in the form of farm subsidies, military spending, anti-poverty aid and retirement programs. As one of (if not THE) nation's poorest states, Mississippi is dependent on the feds for an astonishing 45.84 percent of revenues. Without the feds, Mississippi is a third-world country."

"Protesters who for over a year have railed against the "extremist" policies of the North Carolina legislature are now bringing their fight to the voting booth as the movement known as Moral Mondays launched a bold initiative to get-out-the-vote this week."

"New restrictions will be in place for the first time in fifteen states in the 2014 election. All across the country, we’re seeing the most significant push to restrict voting rights since Reconstruction.Partisanship is a strong motivating factor for the voting changes—GOP legislatures or governors enacted eighteen of the twenty-two new restrictions.So is race. According to the Brennan Center: “Of the 11 states with the highest African-American turnout in 2008, 7 have new restrictions in place. Of the 12 states with the largest Hispanic population growth between 2000 and 2010, 9 passed laws making it harder to vote.”These disturbing facts suggest that the strong protections of the VRA are still needed. Nearly two-thirds of the states previously covered under Section 4 of the VRA, nine in fifteen, passed new voting restrictions since 2010.Take another look at the maps above. You’ll see that the South continues to restrict voting rights more aggressively than anywhere else in the country."

"The first alarm is the hidden connection that Professor David Brat's victory had to the Koch Brothers dark money network: hundreds of millions of dollars in "charitable contributions" to inoculate American academic institutions and media with extremist libertarian philosophy, promoting the Ayn Randian culture of greed while boosting radical Tea Party candidates. The net effect has been to undermine the civility of American politics, divide the Republican Party, stalemate Congress and hobble government institutions."

"in the past few years, thanks in large part to Fox News host turned conservative media mogul Glenn Beck, specters of concentration camps have started turning up everywhere a conservative looks, from climate change resolutions to census forms to job postings."

"But just to reach this point — where people on both sides of the political divide stop fighting over whether or not climate change is happening and move on to debating about what’s to be done — is momentous, as is Paulson’s public declaration that climate change is "the challenge of our time"."

"The willingness to concoct, promulgate and defend lies like these is amoral enough. That they’re intended to restrict healthcare access to people who really need it is just monstrous. And you get very little sense that conservatives care or even recognize this for the problem that it is."

"And as the nation becomes increasingly brown and the rainbow coalition that twice elected Barack Obama continues to reflect a sea-change of progressive, liberal attitudes, the Grand Old Party remains overwhelmingly white, dominated by men so intent on maintaining power that they refuse to see the coming of the tide."

Saturday, June 21, 2014

"Profits are at record heights and wages near record lows as a portion of the economy. CEO pay soars to new heights. The wealthiest 1 percent pockets nearly all of the nation’s income growth, while typical household income continues to decline."

"Undeserved triple-A credit ratings were one of the major accelerators of the financial meltdown of 2007 and 2008. Wall Street firms created wildly complex securities based on junk subprime mortgages and sold them to pension funds, insurance companies and other Wall Street banks because they carried the golden seal — AAA."

www.politicususa.com/2014/06/21/kevin-mccarthys-rise-majority-leader-great-news-polluting-koch-brothers.html
"McCarthy will hardly take any steps to help low-wage workers or create jobs nationally when he adamantly opposes a major job creation project in his home state and congressional district, and there is good reason why. McCarthy is an adamant foe of California’s high speed rail (HSR) project like his cohorts in the House because, as a typical Republican, he is beholden to the oil industry and counts among his top ten campaign contributors Chevron and Occidental Petroleum. California’s oil and gas producers are already drawing up a list of favors the new Majority Leader owes them as recompense and it includes killing jobs for Californians."

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/20/3451429/utah-solar-purpa/
"Boston-based renewable energy company First Wind just finalized agreements to provide a Utah utility with 320 megawatts of solar capacity for the next two decades. And the circumstances of the contracts are yet another example of how falling solar prices are reshaping the market."

Friday, June 20, 2014

"Miller was a willing participant in selling the lies, not just some impartial observer. It would be "helpful" if any of the ones who lied us into invading Iraq were actually held accountable for their actions. It would be "helpful" if Faux "news" were taken off the air and no longer allowed to spread right wing propaganda and the opportunity to attempt to rehabilitate former Cheney stenographers like Judith Miller."

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/20/3451311/pennsylvania-frack-gag-health/"The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s hostility to examining the health effects of fracking is just the latest development in a series of policies and laws that make it easier to make money from fracking — at the expense of public health. For instance, a Pennsylvania law makes it illegal for doctors to tell their patients which fracking chemicals are poisoning them, to protect the secret blends they inject into the earth."

"Even worse for a governor who has already had to try an explain away highly´controversial emails from former aides, as well as the investigations, prosecutions and convictions of aides, appointees, allies and campaign donors, are the actual details of the documents that were ordered unsealed by Federal Appeals Judge Frank Easterbrook."

"an Adelson contribution of nearly $1 million ended up in Corbett's campaign account, in violation of the state gaming law's prohibition of casino owners giving political contributions in Pennsylvania."

www.thinkprogress.org/health/2014/06/19/3450831/obamacare-special-enrollment/
"Anyone who experiences a “life-changing event” — graduating from college and losing a student health plan, moving to a new home, getting married, having or adopting a baby, or turning 26 years old — may be eligible to enroll in a new marketplace plan even before the next enrollment period starts in the fall. They can take advantage of what’s called Special Enrollment."

"Wikileaks published a previously tightly-held and secretive draft of a trade document on Thursday that, if enacted, would give the world's financial powers an even more dominant position to control the global economy by avoiding regulations and public acccountability."

www.forwardprogressives.com/gop-candidate-refers-whites-traditional-voters/"The cornerstone of the continued Republican success across the South over the last few decades has been the “Southern Strategy,” and his remarks show all the hallmarks of someone who uses that strategy to gin up the base every election. The problem for Thom Tillis and the rest of the GOP is that this blueprint cannot work forever with the shrinking of his “traditional population.” You see, while using the racial dogwhistles and xenophobia has worked for all this time to convince poor and working class whites that minorities were their enemy, it doesn’t work so well on the younger and more diverse voting population that is moving into North Carolina and other states across the South like Texas, Virginia, or Georgia."